Pokemon Tabletop

What a coincidence, I am making a Pokemon Tabletop Adventure game starting next week. Made my own Team Rocket Goon squad and motto!

Pic Related. It's a gift.

Also interested in other people input.

Part 2.

Also, what would be a good mascott pkmn for Team Rocket. Right now the Rockets' Ranger uses Nidoran (M), the Scientist Drowzee, the Capture Specialist (Snagger) uses Clefairy and the Tough Guy uses Geodude.

Is it literally Team Rocket? Or is an equivalent? And are pokemon after gen 1 included?

If it IS Team Rocket, and it's gen 1, it only makes sense that the major mascot pokemon probably be Meowth. If you're looking for something new, I imagine that Eevees could be a good one, to give some variety and challenge and to subvert the "eevee is too cute to be evil" expectation.

> Is it literally Team Rocket? Or is an equivalent?
Team Rocket. There for profit. Made a team of 4. They're named Alpha (Leader), Bravo (Brute), Charlie (Researcher) and Delta (Capture specialist, token girl). They answer to Giovanni like Butch Cassidy, James and Cassidy.

> And are pokemon after gen 1 included?
Yes, although my knowledge of them is limited. Only played the good ol' Blue.

> it only makes sense that the major mascot pokemon probably be Meowth.
I try to avoid that specific pokemon, and Raticate. Due to being used by Jessie and James.

> Butch Cassidy, James and Cassidy.
Meant to include Jessy somewhere in there.

If you're looking for a Meowth replacement, I'll suggest Aipom, from gen 2

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Aipom_(Pokémon)

Monkeys in general are known to mischievous, and it seems very reasonable to me that an Aipom could both be relatively unthreatening and still reasonably competent in achieving its goals. It also hasn't had a whole lot of limelight on its own, to my knowledge.

Also worth noting that it has an evolution, Ambipom, that didn't come along until gen 4. I didn't actually know that it came along later, cause I never did anything with Aipom when I originally played Silver.

> I'll suggest Aipom, from gen 2
Thanks. Just found Gligar myself. Guess I'll toss a coin.

Look at Murkrow too, cause it has that "dark bird" aspect to it. Maybe not as a mascot, but certainly as a featured pokemon in some way. Perhaps a secondary pickup for one of the members down the road?

... Excellent choice. Definitively for the leader as he leans on Attack (cool) pkmn.

Man, now I'm getting some serious second gen nostalgia. Too bad pokemon game prices skyrocketed after Go was released, otherwise I could go pick up SoulSilver or something.

Alright, now for some ideas for secondary pickups on the other ones.

Bravo: Seems too easy in some ways, but getting him a fighting type is important. Tyrogue (pre-Hitmonchan/lee/top) is a good option, and so is the classic Machop or Mankey, if you don't mind sticking the first gen.

Charlie: Get him a Qwilfish. Not flashy, but the water/poison typing combined with it being single form should provide some variety. It seems like an unethical researcher would be all over having something like a Qwilfish for the sake of extracting toxins and whatnot.

Delta: Is she painfully token girl? If so, pretty much any cute pokemon should do. Eevee and Vulpix are good contenders from first gen, and Azurill (pre-Marill, another second gen pokemon) from third gen would also make sense. If you're looking to subvert that trope at all, giving her a Growlithe would be a nice nod to James' anime past, and provide a sort of cute/badass hybrid to make her less painfully feminine.

Obviously all up to you, but that's what I see making sense at first glance.

OP, this may interest you a bit, or it might not.

A while back, I started writing a setting for a monster breeding game, using the Mutants & Masterminds rules. (The Mecha & Manga book has a whole chapter on "Monster Pets".) I mixed the rules from that game with some "Slice of Life RPG" elements from games like Golden Sky Stories and Ryuukama(sp?).

What I ended up with was a game that felt a lot like Monster Rancher or Digimon/Pokemon.

The players all had a "farm" that they lived on with their monsters, where they raised them and trained them. I was able to keep the game balanced and under control, by having a "License" system in place. This license governed how many monsters they could have, and how many they could "withdraw" from their farm at any given time. This way, you don't have to always keep track if a team of 6 monsters for each player at all times.

The campaign started out with the players working together to build the farm facility that they shared, and doing basic quests for people around town while their monsters grew. Eventually, it became a story of them traveling all over, fighting in Monster tournaments, and fighting world Champions. (The story ended with an epic battle with the NPC who gave them their first Monster eggs, who they thought was dead.)

I had a lot of fun making up monsters and attacks. I highly recommend creating your own content for such a game. Even if you only use real Pokemon, at least give your players the chance to create their own moves, at some point. (We had one player with a fire dragon monster create a move where the monster created a wall of fire, then charged through it, covered in flames, calling it Hell Charge.)

I'd go so far as to say this is a genre that hasn't been full explored in tabletop gaming.

> Bravo
I couldn't agree more on the type. Tyrogue and its evolutions seems a little bit too heroic and I expect PCs to really want a machop for themselves. Timburr on the other hand...

> Charlie: (...) It seems like an unethical researcher would be all over having something like a Qwilfish for the sake of extracting toxins and whatnot.
That's a solid point. Noted down.

> Delta
Somebody else pointed out that them having an eevil might be an interesting twist. Maybe turn it into a glaceon since dark, psychic, fairy, water and poison are already taken.

My story is going to start with the players being thrown unexpectedly into the pokemon world from some version of the real world, so idk about a farm, but I do have ideas similar to the license that you mentioned, in order to keep the protags to a small number of pokemon, at least at the beginning.

I think I won't be able to avoid making up some content like that for my game. One of the optional rulesets for PTU includes retyping pokemon, so you could have something like a Vulpix, but instead of it being Fire, it could be Ghost, or Ice, or Water. It would be used sparingly for me, I think, but I do want to give the players an opportunity to explore stuff like that. I hadn't thought of unique moves, but I like the sound of it and I'll look for opportunities as the campaign goes on.

I can't help but think about this pic with that Eevil idea. So cute, and yet the potential to be used for evil...

And I'll use the girl on the left as inspiration. Of course, it'll be a stolen Eevee, but if a Snagger can pick it, it is loyalty 2, and you did not deserve it.

Also, I'll need to prepare a back-up for my Team Rocket. Having them lose is expected. Having them killed, I can deal with. But...

What if they win?

I mean, their plot won't turn around "capturing that very specific pikachu", but more like "disturbing wilds so that they attack civilians and be paid for protection" or "kidnap that NPC players look for because he knows some paydata" or "raid the pokecenter and sell on the black market", or even "exterminate wild pokemon and breeders of a specific, popular specie then sell overpriced individual"

Might even create a casino to buy one or two dying breed, a bit like how you could get Porygon and Chancey from casinos too.

Whoah! This does remind me more and more of the game I ran. (Though I can understand why the "farm" concept won't work in your game.)

I pulled a page from the Stardew Valley book, and started my campaign with: One PCs' uncle worked at a game company called "Nippondo". While on his deathbed, he gives his nephew an envelope and says, "If one day, you should ever get tired of life, and you feel like giving it all up... Then open this letter."

Ten years later, he opens it to get a series of strange instructions: "Gather your closest friends and take train 1024 North out of town, exactly at midnight."

He does so, and is transported to... Basically a universe like Moonster Rancher/Digimon/Pokemon/Animal Crossing, and they're given a plot of land.

Actually typing this all out makes me miss that campaign. :(

But there was a process for changing Monster types in that game. If you got a Monster high enough level, you could "reincarnate" it, to start it over at level 1 with new stats and a new type.

Dragon Warrior Monsters on the GBC had a function very similar to the reincarnation - breed two monsters, they both leave, you get an egg, and it hatches as something potentially brand new, based on what the two monsters bred were. Its base stats were higher, and the potential for what it could learn move-wise was better too. I wish that franchise had a modern rendition.

That said, I like your introduction to this world a lot. I've been struggling with how to run mine, and the distant family member angle is an angle I hadn't thought about at all. I'm gonna have to look into that as a partner plot hook.

That was exactly the girl I was thinking of. She looks so innocent and maybe even helpless to a degree, but that could all be a cunning ruse to hide her competence, or even perhaps not so much a ruse as misleading appearances - giving her what amounts to a high luck stat, and having her accidentally do really well.

I like your alternate plots. It'll have to be built around what your players do, but I think all of those are great starting points for ways to make money and mischief. It might be worth considering making them temporary allies at certain points too, with the "enemy of my enemy" sentiment, to let the players get to know them a little better.

I would like to to an RPG based on Pokemon Go aka Earth instead of the Pokemon World.

>Dragon Warrior Monsters
That shit was great, certainly in the same vein as Pokemon but still very much its own thing. Having a party of monsters that fought together instead of one at a time was really fun and interesting. It even did breeding before Pokemon!

>I wish that franchise had a modern rendition
Do I have some good news for you!

Not only did they continue the series with Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. In a few months, they are releasing a new game.

Hnng I'm going to have to look that up. I knew of the DWM2 but I didn't realize there was a continuation, whether in a sequel sense or a spiritual one. DWM was the shit, hands down.

I don't know, pokemon Go seems to have a weird twist on grinding for XP. The TTRPGs based on the real games on the other hand, can be set anywhere you want. I literally took Cirodiil + Elsweyr and Valenwood from Elderscroll to base my map on.

> She looks so innocent and maybe even helpless to a degree...
That's the point. I'm guessing a Snagger might cause quite a bit of rage. The "must never harm a wymin" nature of our specie might have her last a while.

> I like your alternate plots.
Thank you very much. I try to keep the goofiness of the Anime's Team Rocket, but even players who play along won't be as easily fooled as the protagonists in said anime. So their mischief as to be subtler.

> It'll have to be built around what your players do
Easy. Most of these plans can be set to fit any pokemon species, most towns have pokecenters... As long as the stuff I generate is generic enough, it can be adapted.

Heck, they'll be able to choose their first "quest". Spearows viciously attacking travelers or bidoofs destroying crops. When questioned, NPCs will mention exterminators recently made cold calls to sell their services.

"They say they have a device that, once properly installed, can stop the [insert pokemon] from creating so much chaos, but it's so pricey!"
> Plot twist: The button is labeled "off".

I highly recommend you go find a rom of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and play it. I also recommend Digimon World Dusk/Dawn and Monster Rancher DS. Even if you're not a huge fan of those series, those are really good games.

From someone who's played two PTU games, one as a player and one as a GM, I can advise that your players will love you if you play out their pokemon as their own NPCs out of battle.

It's hard to keep track of them sometimes, and it certainly eats up playtime, but the most important thing in Pokemon is the Pokemon. So give them some personality, make some of them cute, some of them headstrong, some of them sassy, whatever floats your boat. Heck, give them their own wants and goals to chase after if it's appropriate. But make them stand out, because your players will attach themselves to these little shits, and when your players are invested in your NPCs, they're invested in your world.

Aside from that, our games in particular had big themes around ecological changes on a larger scale-- one of those 'humans are the small fish in a really big pond filled with much bigger, scarier, dumber fish' deals. It was a lot of fun both as a player and as a GM, because players tend to worry about problems more if those problems involve pokemon as the victims. PTU gives the GM a free ticket to make players want to be involved with the world at all times, so don't let it go to waste.

I've played and run games of both PTA and PTU. I honestly can't recommend the systems due to their mechanically cludgy nature and poorly defined balance in many areas. Ex. Unevolved pokemon with stats comparable to a stage 2 starter, but no indication is given about a pokemon's relative strength unless you run the numbers yourself.

That being said, if you insist on running it, I wish you luck. It's not that you can't have fun with the system, it's just an uphill battle. Or as my group put it: It was tons of fun, right up until combat started.

>play out their pokemon as their own NPCs out of battle.
Oh yeah, that's mandatory. It's actually pretty easy to keep track of thanks to Natures.

Just keep every pokemon's personality relatively simple: Nature plus 1~3 quirks (and wait for those to develop naturally while in play), kept on a succinct list.

I appreciate the suggestions. Ecological considerations were something I was thinking about already, in the context of the legendary pokemon. Less micro things and more big macro events - if the regional legendary, say Zapdos, gets taken out of the picture, it would seriously upset the balance of the area in many ways. There are a variety of ways that could happen, but the general idea is the same.

And of COURSE I will run the pokemon as NPCs! That's straight up necessary, in my opinion. I can't imagine doing it any other way desu senpai.

The mechanical crunch is something I'm wary of, and I think I could still be sold on a different system if someone gave me a good reason. Still, my players tend towards rules crunchy systems, so I'm sure they'll pick up the slack for me if I do go with the system.

Are there good alternatives?

>Are there good alternatives?
No, which is the real problem. Every system meant to simulate Pokemon has glaring flaws, usually on the crunch side.

But it's like 3.pf: A bad game doesn't prevent enjoyment if you can tolerate it and have a good group. I have a good group, but personally lack the tolerance for the mechanical flaws.

PTA/U is a very optimization heavy game.

It has a lot of prep time, because pokemon, moves and feats aren't created equal, so extra effort needs to be spent ensuring that a fight isn't a curb stomp in one direction or the other.

It also has poor number scaling: At low levels, it's easy to get one-shot and as the group levels it's easy to get into padded sumo matches.

Admittedly, I've not played in a year or two, but development was pretty stagnant when I last tried it.

Pokerole is a good alternative, it has enough crunch from the video game without being overwhelming to the gm.
It also gives a little more freedom during battles as it is theater of the mind and doesn't use a grid for combat.

If you go the gym route I'd like to have an elite 4 like how it was in the original anime: a giant tournament between trainers where the last one standing is the champion. That way you could have fun with your players possibly facing off against each other at some point.

>Pokemon Sage is a thing
Sage a shit, Pokemon Clover and DubsClover a best.

>Gym challenge
Have some gyms not be a straight battle. Something like youtube.com/watch?v=nBLUwW2x1m0 Sorry for the shitty AMV, but I hope it gets the idea across.

>game made by literal twelve year olds
No thank you.

Certainly what would probably happen. I like the idea of something a little more complicated than a simple challenge of the four "best trainers".

This was exactly what I was thinking of when I was thinking of non-battle challenges. I'm also considering the alternative where sometimes the gym leaders award badges based on what they feel like - the sort of small town gym leader who gives out badges to those that they alone feel deserve it, even if it's different based on the individual. That allows for the members to just help out around town, maybe take care of an existing problem, and then get awarded for their efforts despite not actually fulfilling any consistent challenge requirements.

Having spent six months slamming my head against this idea, about all I've got is pest control agency.

Everything else is either horrifyingly convoluted or raises the question of "okay but why pokemon"

But pest control, man, each little adventure starts with investigation as they try to determine what species of pokemon is eating all of Ms. Rubinsky's corn or lighting Johnny Ragerface's house on fire every tuesday, followed by (probably) a battle. Keeps things episodic, keeps pokemon integral to the plot, and doesn't try to live off emulating the games' structure.

Why not minor Shadowruns w/ personnal objectives and episodic hunt for very specific pokémons the PCs want.

It's episodic, keep pokémons integral to the plot and rely a little bit more on the source material without emulating.

youtube.com/watch?v=-LbgX1OwR4U

I am running two different PTU games with different people all together.
One is centered around pokemon contest (instead of your usual gym battles) and the main plot revolves around a criminal team formed out of remnent Team Magma and Aqua fanatics who kinda want to destroy the planet... kinda.
The other revolves around a team of Team Rocket Specialists that were sent by their boss to another region to retrieve an acient artifact that the boss needs for his plans.
Basically, do what ever you and the players want. Yu can do pretty much everything in PTU. Have fun.

I second this, Pokerole is better if you don't want all the crunch

Why not an MiB style campaign?

>all I've got is pest control agency.

why not Ghostbusters?

If you have a decent computer I'd emulate it. DS emulators aren't too stressful these days, so it should run decently.

There's something about the handheld experience though. I have a 3DS and it just seems to make sense to pick it up if I can. I'll probably just wait out the pokemon go craze and try to pick it up in a couple months, hopefully when it's cheaper.

Time to look into it. Does it bear any similarities to existing systems in general? On my phone at work atm so I don't have a good chance to dig into it atm.

It's a world of darkness adaptation, with willpower and multiple actions but uses d6 instead of d10

...

i mean, that'd be presumably part of it if you're dealing with pokemon infestations.

Which class combination is the strongest?

Ghost-Dark or Fairy-Steel, iirc.

Why would he turn a picture book towards a bunch of pokemon that don't have eyes?

I'd just bite the bullet and buy it

it'll only be about $10 cheaper when the craze dies down

pokemon games are NEVER cheap

In that case it's gonna be a few months so I can get through PAX first and whatnot. Even not having to pay for a hotel or travel, PAX is still gonna be expensive.

I find Ace Trainer and Duelist to be pretty good.

Depends on where you set it.
I like a Kanto/Johto conflict. The original Red & Blue was set in 1997, now it's 2016. Johto is losing its cultural identity to the modernization of the world, while the Kanto region is more modern day Japan.

Team Rocket's gone, the former Admins are focused on new technology and investing in the burgeoning fields of Mega Evolutions and other weird stuff like the Reverse World or designer pokemon.

The Pokemon Professors have done their research and do lecture tours. Salarymen in Kanto feel displeasure with their lives, anime and idols feature pokemon dominate the popular culture; and the idea of being a kid on an adventure is deemed reckless because you ought to get a formal education before you go out and adventure.

Kanto's modernization is seeing the loss of apricorn smithing, kimono girls, and even the old towers are being closed down or rebuilt to be brought "up to code" due to safety violations. The world's grown up and people aren't amazed by pokemon anymore, they're pets or assistants; only kids really love them and kids can move beyond them in time.

So the party as some fresh trainers on the scene, doing the old circuit, and not getting bogged down by the modernity of the adult world could in-and-of-itself reinvigorate gym leaders and the Pokemon League, turning it back to a rite of passage rather than an overly-commercialized sporting event. Some people want this, some people don't.

Focus on how characters who stray too much into the adult world lose touch with their pokemon, and those who stray too far from the adult world can look like NEETS or nutjobs. Make the campaign about finding balance in two regions that are falling out of balance. Hell, maybe toss in a remnant of Team Rocket that really just wants Giovanni to go back to being a mastermind because it'll help give trainers purpose.

Because their sonar is so strong they can bounce the images into their mind, dunk ass.

This sounds absolutely autistic...

I like this. It's not what I'm looking for, but basically only because I'm not looking to put them into the existing pokemon world as is. I like the theme of balancing the pursuit of work and play - and if I were running this for a different group, that might actually be an excellent theme to include. I'll keep this idea on tab.

Well that wasn't my intent. It's like...You ever watch those videos about professional Japanese craftsmen who still make toy tops and are really discouraged by the direction the world is going because kids don't play anymore, they use video games and stuff instead? It's the death of the small town, or in this case a region because modernity creeps in and does ruin tradition. Which can be good, but it can also ruin things by going the way of mass-manufacturing. That'd be Johto.

Kanto would be modern Japan where people are barely even thinking about having kids, everyone is overworked, and the idea of going on a vacation and being able to enjoy the traditional world is something you have to strive for. Being a 10 year old kid with a pokemon out in the wild just doesn't work anymore, you can get the same "experience" through an academy; and frankly you're probably not going to be champ anyway so you may as well get an education so you can be a salaryman.

Players as people trying to find that balance and treating Pokemon as less pets/animals/daily contraptions and more as companions again could be a unique campaign. You go from being someone the world has written off for not doing what is expected and as you start winning and showing that the traditional journey route is still viable people start to feel a little better; they start thinking about their missed opportunities and trying to seize the day.

But you still have to find that balance, because much like being a celebrity you might just have those 15 minutes. And the journey is about self-mastery and gaining knowledge as much as it is about making money and having fun or getting famous.

It's weeb and a bit meta, but I feel if it was the framework it could make for a good enough campaign. Especially if you didn't totally spell it all out and just let the PCs see the shifts going on every time they're in the news for having won a gym or foiled a gang.

And I'm glad you like it, because its something I've always wanted to use but most of the systems are just too prep heavy for my desires and that always takes me out of actually wanting to run a game.

We get it, you long for the good ol' times where children ran free with their pokemon and older adults (often gym leaders) tagged along with them to travel the world and no one thought it was creepy for a twenty something to be along a 10-yo.

When the young ones wandered alone in dark caves full of guys addressing themselves as "maniacs" and people just thought them as quirky and fun.

But no, those times are over, do you have any idea of how many children were hurt in those days? If their Pokémon weren't strong enough some thugs would steal their money, countless generations swallowed by a vicious circle of betting and violence! All disguised under the promise of glory and fame and becoming "the very best" that celebrity culture is what makes today's adults unable to cope with their own mistakes or failure.

That kid from the 90's the one with the pikachu, last I heard is that someone saw him wandering through the mountains alone and then nothing!

Seriously fuck your old times! I rather my children to grow in a safe and productive environment where they learn to do something of their lives!

Seems really, good. Is their a bestiary of completed pokemon stats one could use?

Seriously though, you've sold me. Like 100% sold me. I guess I've been trying to think of *things* to do in the game, but in doing so I've kinda been falling into the trap of over-prep that is so enticing. I haven't really thought about those consistent themes though.

At first glance this seems like something my players would eat up - but I will make sure to think on that and make sure that it's something they'd like as opposed to something I'd like to throw at them. Pretty much every player is some degree of weeb or ex-weeb that is in the process of going full adult, so I think it would be up their alley.

Hey there, let gramps have his moment. He's not hurting anyone - do you REALLY think that your little Luna is about to just go out and explore the wilds on her own? Does she even know how?

I wouldn't worry about it, man. Luna might have a couple new things to daydream about, but you and I both know that her academics are just going too well for her to just up and leave. Right?

Kids today think they know everything, with their Talking pokedexes and cellphoneswith GPS location of nearby Pokémon and photos tagged as #Selfie #ShinyPokemon #NoFilter

Seriously, last generation ruined everything, and the new generations will doom us all, isn't there a way to make the pokemon world great again?!

My headcanon is that the Japan-based regions were formerly the Empire of Ransei, which was controlled by Kanto but forced to split up after losing a war against the Unovans. Johto remained closer to Kanto than Sinnoh and Hoenn due to its physical proximity and relative lack of industrial development. The new order forced upon the former Ransei states after the war allowed organized crime, major corporations, and special interest groups like the dragon tamers to gain significant social, political, and economic power.

I'm not sure how to work in pokemon, or at least some of them, being invading aliens from space as was hinted at in the original games. I think there's potential for Pokemon Men in Black.

Make sure there are a couple rivals, that are recurring. You might have one consistent annoyance, with occasional other groups or individuals that come up at specific times or just are rarely a bigger challenge.

Make sure to allow for pokemon (particualrly the starters) to grow in ways that aren't just "get EXP, level up".

My GM lets us play our pokemon ourselves, and that was a horrible idea because my entire character concept is half "the Pokemon Talent Scout", so my Smeargle is more interested in painting battles than participating in them.

It's not THAT bad though because I can punch harder with the power of "I had a spicy burrito for lunch" to make up for it

The issue I run into with a player also playing their pokemon is that it's very awkward to play with yourself. Every time the PC and pokemon interact, the player is talking to himself, basically.

buy an R4i, genius

Hardest part about running Pokemon as the GM is that some players wanna catch em all. I have enough shit open when running the game, but having to also keep a document with quirks and shit open is a pain.

PTU's system seems to be imitating the games, but how close is it, really?

Too close sometimes with how much shit it has. If you are a Pokemon Autist you will love it though. Also the devs did their best to try and make shitmons better.

Close in what doesn't matter but it strays in what should matter.

Besides the basics for Pokemon (name, type, size, stats, moves) it also counts video game mechanics such as gender ratio, egg groups, hatch rate, TM's, Egg moves and how are they inherited etc. Basically the whole entry on bulbapedia. PLUS all the added tabletop mechanics such as capabilities (including the respective levels of each) Skills, habitat, Diet (it also takes into account berry flavors and preference according to their nature)

And that's not counting all the variables you can get them with the 40+ Trainer classes.

As said, if you are Pokemon Autist you will love it.

pretty much this, I ran a PTU game for quite awhile but it about drove me mad as a GM, I just didn't have the time to get everything set up and running smoothly. Let alone keep track of the literally dozens of little mechanics that are floating around it. I'll take a super open rules GURPS game over PTU.

>Not playing as Pokemon
A Mystery Dungeon campain would be the easiest to create

Depends on the system. If it's PTA/PTU, you'd have a very short work day. The devs assume everyone uses pokemon as ablative armor. And at least one dev was pretty vocal about preferring high lethality games.

As someone thinking of trying one of the systems; what is it like?
Is it any good?

Fun if you like Pokemon tons, but keep in mind GMing it is hell as people have said.

There seem to be a bunch of classes for type specializations. Is having a same type team actually viable or just a newbie trap?

I haven't looked at all of them, but they seem to be good. You just need to actually have a monotype team that covers the weakness of its type some.

Having played/gm'd all of these I'll say:

>PTU/PTA
These are fun to play but a nightmare to GM, if you don't mind the crunch or just forget about some of the rules you'll be fine.

>Pokerole
It runs smoothly for the GM and players and it's easier to learn on the go; although you need a good GM who has at least some aspects of a story prepared as it is pretty story-driven system.

>Pokemon Pen & Paper
This one I only played once with my younger brother, it was fun but not my favorite.
It has tons of flavor for a game that small, but the fights ended up feeling like an tabletop version of rock-paper-scissors.
But it's way easy and simpler than the rest, it just comes at the cost of pokemon customization.

For those this might interest.

Do you have one of the core rules?

it's this one
mediafire.com/download/2p3uyvycyk9z2d8/Pokerole Core Book Singles.pdf

does anyone have any storytimes or interesting happening during any campaigns of this that they've played?

the PMD sourcebook is awful and incomplete, I also heard the author ragequited

This really does seem like it would simplify a lot, honestly

Didn't read through the topic, so dunno if any of these have been posted.

My suggestion is don't do the same tired system the games use where the players go through eight gyms and then fight the E4 + Champion.

Sure, gyms into pokemon league, but offer more than eight gyms (while still requiring the eight badges), give your players more choices of how to plan their adventures.

Have your friends make rivals and friends during their journey, NPCs that will occasionally pop up and aid/hinder your players.

And then when they get to the pokemon league, do a grand tournament for all of the trainers that obtained eight badges in the past year or whatever time frame. Put your players in that tournament. Put their friends and rivals in that tournament. Make it FEEL like a huge event like the show does.

Start the tournament off slow, trainers are limited to, for example, three pokemon in the first rounds, then limited to four in the medium rounds, until finally full six mon parties in the final rounds. Finally, if you really want E4 and champion, have the winner of the tournament face off against them (pretty sure this happens in these tournaments anyways), but make the E4 and Champion worthy of their titles, not battles your players can beat just by overleveling their pokemon.
Idea for an Evil Team: PETA Rocket (not literally named this). Take Team Plasma's "release all your slaves you horrible people!" jargon and give it a really dark behind the curtains face where the team watches the trainers release their pokemon and then captures the stronger and/or more rare ones afterwards.

>My suggestion is don't do the same tired system the games use where the players go through eight gyms and then fight the E4 + Champion.

>Sure, gyms into pokemon league, but offer more than eight gyms (while still requiring the eight badges), give your players more choices of how to plan their adventures.

Yeah, this is pretty much solidly what my plan is at this point. If you want 8 gyms and out, play the vidya.

>Have your friends make rivals and friends during their journey, NPCs that will occasionally pop up and aid/hinder your players.

I plan to do this too. What's a good pacing - if they meet someone in the second session and make friends, and then part ways, what's a generally good time to bring them back?

>And then when they get to the pokemon league, do a grand tournament for all of the trainers that obtained eight badges in the past year or whatever time frame. Put your players in that tournament. Put their friends and rivals in that tournament. Make it FEEL like a huge event like the show does.

This suggestion has come up a few times now, so I think I pretty much have to do this at some point.

>Idea for an Evil Team: PETA Rocket (not literally named this). Take Team Plasma's "release all your slaves you horrible people!" jargon and give it a really dark behind the curtains face where the team watches the trainers release their pokemon and then captures the stronger and/or more rare ones afterwards.

That's not a bad idea. I don't know if I'm going to explicitly use an "Evil Team" persay, but there will be bad guys and I like this idea.